The right fight in Syria as America and allies combat chemical weapons

Telling the world that Assad’s chemical atrocities will end. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

Rightly moving to ensure that the use of chemical weapons does not go unpunished, rightly holding not only Syria's Bashar Assad but Russia's Vladimir Putin accountable, rightly acting in concert with France and Britain, President Trump Friday night announced what he says will be sustained military action against an army that unleashed chemical hell on innocents last week.

The commander-in-chief and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis must proceed with both strength and strategic caution.

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The complexities are amplified by the fact that Trump, declaring ISIS all but dead and America's prime mission accomplished, has vowed to pull assets from Syria as soon as possible. Friends and foes know he has no interest in a protracted fight.

But at this earliest stage, take heart that the world's mightiest fighting force is partnering with allies to stand against sickening brutality.

Assad has repeatedly used chemicals, banned after World War I, to murder and terrorize civilians in a war that has cost a half-million lives.

In 2012 and 2013, President Obama promised there would be consequences, then blinked.

Last year, Trump followed through — hitting an airfield from which chemical weapons had been deployed, but not hard enough to prevent it from being used again soon thereafter.

This time presents a new test: Whether the leader of the free world has both the fortitude to follow through and the wisdom to understand when enough is enough. It is a devilishly difficult needle to thread, risking hostilities that could draw Russia, Assad's protector, into a wider war.

If the world can call itself civilized, powerful and principled nations have an obligation to stand for basic decency — and against cruel slaughter. Today, America, Britain and France begin to do just that.